A Barb, A Zany Old Lady Review: Banker’s Hours by Wade Kelly

Standard

Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

Grant Adams is a twenty-six-year-old bank teller, recently transferred from another branch, when thirty-two-year-old Tristan Carr walks up to his window and enters his life. Little does Grant know that his OCD, well-ordered, neat and clean, lonely, virginal life is about to change for the better. And little does Tristan know that his easy going, unscheduled, untidy bachelor existence is about to go out the window.

From the moment he first sees Grant, Tristan knows he’s found someone he can love. And Grant? Well, though he thinks Tristan is hot, he’s also dirty and greasy from his job as an auto mechanic and most importantly, he’s straight, or so Grant surmises when he learns Tristan has a daughter. So when Tristan eventually asks him out, Grant assumes it’s as a friend, and he’s not sure he can behave like a friend in the presence of a guy who turns him on.

Grant is one of those characters who is very easy to dislike—he has a short temper, is very fussy about getting dirty, hates seeing things out of place, can’t tolerate being made fun of, and is quick tempered. But it becomes evident as the story unfolds that a large part of that is due to the way he was raised, his size and stature as a child being bullied at school, his anxiety over social situations, his lack of a strong friend base, and the disasters he’s picked to date. It’s no wonder he’s an OCD neat freak, never made it through more than one date with anyone, never been kissed, and most certainly is still a virgin. He certainly doesn’t make it easy for Tristan to love him, but Tristan does.

Tristan is the father of a fifteen-year-old girl, never married, and an ex-Navy man who inherited his family’s garage business. He also inherited his father’s home located behind the garage and has lived there carefree and clean-free for ten years. He sees his daughter ever y other weekend and tolerates her mother —a woman he had sex with when he first enlisted in the Navy and was unsure of his sexual orientation. Though he offered to marry Teresa when he found out she was pregnant, she refused, but for years she has acted as if she was the scorned woman he walked away from. Once Tristan started dating Grant, and realized he might be able to have a life with Grant, he told his daughter he was gay, and when Teresa found out, she went ballistic.

In the meantime, Grant is stunned that Tristan actually seems to want to date him more than once. He’s now had his first kiss and is looking forward to more than kissing. When his car breaks down in Tristan’s driveway after a date, it’s not the setup Tristan thinks it is so the two spend a platonic night together only to be rousted in the morning by Teresa. What can a guy do when confronted by his boyfriend’s daughter’s mother? Tell her it’s not what it looks like—they’re getting married. Oh, and by the way, it would have been good if Grant had mentioned that to Tristan first.

I really enjoyed this story. I kept expecting Tristan to lose his temper with Grant, and though the two did have some tiffs, Tristan remained a super nice guy. Grant, as I stated previously, is one of those characters who could be loved or hated by readers. He was quite irritating at times, and yet I found him to be so very needy and so very lucky to have found Tristan. The two made a wonderful couple, and I can just imagine what their future might be, especially as Grant grows emotionally and continues to change for the better.

Secondary characters were well developed and interesting and the situations, though bizarre at times, were actually plausible. Other than the deliberately snarky, often unlovable Grant, there was nothing about this story not to like.I’d recommend it to lovers of MM romance and especially to those who enjoy characters who come into their sexuality a little later in life and those who love to hate a snarky character.

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Cover art by Anne Cain is an attractive light pink to mauve-toned background showing silhouettes of two men—one in a V-neck T-shirt and the other in a dress shirt with tie. Beautifully done, the artwork symbolizes both MCs and Grant’s penchant for pink and other Easter egg-colored dress shirts.